KIA's Nail vs. LG's Tolhurst: Starting Pitching Matchup for Game 1 of Semis-PO

The starting pitchers have been finalized to take the mound as the opening pitchers for both teams in the semi-playoffs (best-of-five), the second stage of the professional baseball postseason.

Both the KIA Tigers, who finished the regular season in third place and waited in the semi-playoffs, and the LG Twins, who advanced by getting through the wild-card game, have entrusted their foreign pitchers with the heavy responsibility of Game 1.

KIA has announced James Nail (33) and LG has named Anders Tolhurst (27) as their respective starting pitchers for Game 1 of the KBO postseason semi-playoffs, which will be held on October 17 at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field.

In the 17 previous semi-playoffs played under a best-of-five format, the team winning Game 1 has advanced to the playoffs (best-of-five) 12 times, accounting for 70.6%.

In particular, in the last 10 best-of-five semi-playoffs, the team that won Game 1 has claimed the series 9 times.

Nail, spending his third season in the KBO League, is one of the key figures behind the KIA Tigers' 2024 Korean Series championship.

This regular season, he shouldered a significant part of KIA's pitching staff with 13 wins, 7 losses, and a 3.49 ERA over 31 appearances and 183 innings.

Against LG over his three cumulative seasons, he has recorded 4 wins, 2 losses, and a 3.58 ERA in 11 appearances.

The batter who showed the best performance against Nail within the LG lineup is infielder Moon Bo-gyung.

Moon Bo-gyung displayed a strong showing against Nail with a .417 batting average (10 hits in 24 at-bats), 1 home run, 4 RBIs, and a 1.087 OPS (on-base plus slugging).

Moon Jung-bin, who has grown into LG's young cleanup hitter, also acted as Nail's kryptonite with a .625 batting average (5 hits in 8 at-bats).

Conversely, Park Hae-min (.160 batting average), Shin Min-jae (.125), Koo Bon-hyuk (.091), and Song Chan-ui (.000) were batters who showed weaknesses against Nail.

LG's Tolhurst experienced somewhat fluctuating performances this season, recording 12 wins, 11 losses, and a 4.24 ERA across 30 games and 163 1/3 innings.

He also showed a weak performance against KIA this year with 1 win, 3 losses, and a 6.20 ERA in 5 games.

However, last year he was a tiger hunter, posting 2 wins and no losses with a 0.82 ERA in 2 games against KIA.

For LG, thanks to finishing the wild-card game against Doosan in a single match, they are able to field Tolhurst as the starter for Game 1 of the semi-playoffs.

The player who showed strong performance against Tolhurst in the KIA lineup is Harold Castro.

Castro was strong with a .429 batting average (3 hits in 7 at-bats), and 2 of his 3 hits were doubles.


Backup infielder Kim Gyu-sung showed an unexpected compatibility with a .556 batting average (5 hits in 9 at-bats), and Kim Ho-ryung was also strong with a .385 batting average (5 hits in 13 at-bats).

The biggest variable is superstar Kim Do-young, whom LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop pointed out by saying, "The turning point of the semi-playoffs is how to stop this player."

Kim Do-young's batting average against Tolhurst was poor at .222 (2 hits in 9 at-bats), but he did hit a home run against LG in Jamsil on March 31.

Batters in the KIA lineup who showed weaknesses against Tolhurst include Kim Sun-bin (.231 batting average), Han Jun-su (.182), Park Min (.143), and Na Sung-bum (.083).

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.